Market Shift Hits All Commodities

This past week was a roller coaster with Thursday's breathtaking market plunge; it was a correction across all commodities, not just grains. Read more in the "Markets" section, below.

Hello all,

2018 Farm Bill - The conference I referenced in the last update featured Mary Kay Thatcher as one of the guest panelists and speaker. I've known Ms Thatcher for most of my career in crop insurance, she is a friend for agriculture, a strong supporter of crop insurance and also knowledgeable of the inner workings on Capitol Hill in Washington DC. Here's an article summarizing her thoughts...

Markets - This past week was a roller coaster with Thursday's breathtaking plunge; it was a correction across all commodities, not just grains. The HRW wheat tour found ample bushels in their appraisals conducted during the annual event across the Southern Plains. Forecast yields are about 3 bushels less than 2016's crop, which was a swing and a miss - production averaged significantly more than what the tour estimated. Darin Newsom, DTN analyst said "We won't know what the wheat crop is, good or bad, until the combines roll through the fields and bushels are hauled to town." Keep in mind that any damage from the snowstorm that blanketed the region last weekend, will take a minimum of 7/10 days to show itself. The damage from the cold and lodged grain won't begin to show itself until the end of this week.

Progress on field work and corn planting was slowed this past week due to the cold and significant rainfall that was received in the corn belt region. This is anticipated to continue again this week across much of the corn belt, with warmer temperatures expected next week. If we weather continues for this week, that means corn planting will be delayed beyond the 5/15 magical date. If the delay is prolonged, corn will gain some weather trading at the expense of beans - corn acres switched to beans due to later planting and maturity issues. Read about it here and stay tuned for more.

If you've not heard or read, the extreme drought has switched coasts; Florida is in some dire straits with areas at 50% or less of normal rainfall received thus far this year...

Road Conditions - You're correct, roads locally are in poor health, though thankfully, not the worst...